Object Note
Purchased along with another five similar pieces in the collection (ZI2018.500133 ASIA, ZI2018.500134 ASIA, ZI2018.500797ASIA, ZI2018.500798 ASIA, ZI2018.500799 ASIA).
Object History
This garment was acquired through an anonymous contact on Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli’s social media – Instagram – platform. He was interested in Dr. Reem’s and The Zay Initiative’s endeavour in the field and offered to help. Not much is known about the person as he never revealed his name or met with Dr. Reem except he often travels between Dubai, UAE, and the south of Iran. He purchased six samples of these trousers and had them delivered to Dr. Reem via her driver.
Dr. Reem and The Zay Initiative would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the said stranger for his kind and charitable gesture.
Object Features
This is an ankle-length, tapered pair of black silk trousers (shalvar) of thick (satin) weave, loose with a gathered waistline that has an elastic fastening.
Traditionally worn by women of Bandar Abbas and Hormozgan areas in south Iran. These are usually worn with a loose shift (jama) of coloured cotton with a collar (gariban) and a rectangular black scarf (makna) made of thin silk or other sheer material by older women of the region.
The cuffs are embellished with thick metal foil (badlah), metal thread (zari) and silk floss thread embroidered borders and strips of woven woollen ribbons. The outermost edging is embellished with golden zari alternately embroidered with black cotton thread forming diagonal panels, followed by a plain green woollen strip, a badlah strip in silver over an orange base and finally a thick black woollen woven strip.
The innermost strip is the widest with golden and silver metal foil badlah work in geometric design over a red and green base. The cuff ends with a wide patch of floral design in three tiers.
The outermost tier is a thick patch of golden zari embroidered in (blanket_stitch) style highlighted with a spiral design created by (chain_stitch) style embroidery with orange and green silk floss thread.
The next tier is a broad band of floral and geometric design executed in a variety of styles – (cross_stitch), (couching) and blanket_stitch – with zari and golden sequins and finally sporadic repeats of floral bouquet embroidered with silver and golden zari and sequins and a variety of colourful – coral, pink, jade, burgundy, yellow blue and green – silk floss threads executed in blanket_stitch and satin_stitch.
The cuffs have zip fastenings to loosen or tighten the trousers at the ankles according to the wearer’s convenience. The shalvar is otherwise unlined except for the cuffs which are lined with plain white cotton gauze fabric.
It is worth noting that the name badlah for this type of embroidery is although same across Iran and South Asia it is also sometimes commonly referred to as (khus_dozi) in south Iran.
It is believed that the term badlah is derived from the phrase ‘badal kinari’ – cloud lining – popular during the Mughal period in India as net or fine gauze silk were often embroidered with metal pieces giving them the look of clouds with bright lines around them.
However, upon crossing the Gulf and reaching the Arabian Peninsula the nomenclature of the embroidery changes to (talli / tulle_bi_talli), while the cuffs of women’s trousers and shirts which are detachable and could be changed are called badlah.
These embellished broad-cuffed shalvar are not just unique to south Iran but are equally famous across the Gulf in the countries across the Arabian Peninsula such as Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Oman. The quality of craftsmanship on this shalvar is so refined that it looks almost commercially produced in a factory, while in reality they are made at home by women of the region.
With cross-cultural lineages running deep between the communities living on either side of the Gulf, it is thus no wonder, that material culture such as this has found firm grounds on both sides.
Links
- https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/techniques/knotting-and-netting/badla
- https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-xxiii
- https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/clothing
- https://iranparadise.com/irans-traditional-dress
- https://www.fantasticirantravel.com/iranian-ethnic-costumes/
- https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-xxvii
- https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/clothing
- https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-xxviii
- https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/techniques/knotting-and-netting/badla
- https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/individual-textiles-and-textile-types/daily-and-general-garments-and-textiles
- https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/individual-textiles-and-textile-types/daily-and-general-garments-and-textiles
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